Investigative Psychology - SAGE Publications Inc

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 8282 POLICE AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGYa bomb in a briefcase instead of a gun, a plot that he may have copied from the 1970movie Airport.Not long after the Cooper skyjacking, in August 1972, the FAA issued a directivethat all U.S. carriers had to either search or deny boarding to those who fit a certainprofile (Daily & Pickrel, 1975a). The profile had been developed by FAA psychologistsin response to the rash of skyjackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.They had concluded that, in general, skyjackers were different from the usual air traveler of that time in such aspects as socioeconomic class and mannerisms in the airportterminal (Daily & Pickrel, 1975a). The “typical” skyjacker was generally an “unsuccessful”member of society, was inadequate socially and occupationally, was lacking in resourcefulness, appeared to have substantial feelings of helplessness or hopelessness, and perhapswas suicidal. Apparently, the skyjacking was a way of improving his or her situation andgaining some control and significance in the world. However, although the skyjacker profile was helpful at first, it eventually proved inadequate and incomplete because cultural,social, political, and security forces are always in a state of flux. Consequently, the mostuseful profiles must be continually evaluated and updated with new information.The preboarding procedure mandated by the FAA seemed to work. During theyears 1973 and 1974, only four American aircraft were involved in skyjackings, noneof which turned out to be successful in terms of getting the skyjacker flown to thedesired destination (Civil Aeronautics Board, 1975).Over the years, interest in profiling has waxed and waned, and it is often fueled bysensational media events. After a series of school shootings in the 1990s, considerableattention was directed at developing profiles of the type of high school student whowould be likely to open fire on classmates or school officials. When the Washington,D.C., area was terrorized by sniper shootings in the fall of 2002, sniper profiles were therage. However, despite the enormous media interest—including depictions of profilersin the entertainment media—profiling is not as frequent an investigative activity ofpolice officials or psychologists as we might assume. Many police psychologists question the technique. In a nationwide survey of police psychologists, for example, 70%said they did not feel comfortable profiling and seriously questioned its validity andusefulness (Bartol, 1996). Nevertheless, in recent years there has been an upward trendin the use of profiling, with some indications that profiling has become more commonplace within police investigations (Homant & Kennedy, 1998; Snook, Eastwood,Gendreau, Goggin, & Cullen, 2007). In the sections to follow, we will cover profiling inthree forms: criminal profiling, psychological autopsies, and geographical profiling.Criminal ProfilingCriminal profiling is the process of identifying personality traits, behavioral tendencies, geographical location, and demographic or biographical descriptors of anoffender (or offenders) based on characteristics of the crime (Bartol & Bartol, 2004).The primary goal of criminal profiling is to narrow the field of possible suspects to amore reasonable number from the hundreds or thousands of possible suspects withina specific population. Profiling is also a form of prediction. Based on crime sceneinformation and the behavioral patterns or habits of the offender, the profiler tries to

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 83Investigative Psychology 83“predict” who the offender or offenders might be and where and how the next crimemay occur. To a very large extent, the profiling process is dictated by the quality of thedata collected on previous offenders who have committed similar offenses. It shouldbe emphasized at the outset that profiling—even in its most sophisticated form—rarely can point directly to the person who committed the crime. Moreover, profilersdo not claim to do this. Instead, the process helps develop a manageable set ofhypotheses for identifying who may have been responsible for the crime. If done competently, a profile will provide some statistical probabilities of the demographic, geographic, and psychological features of the offender. More important, it shouldeliminate large segments of the population from further investigation.The term profiling is used in several ways to identify different kinds of information. The term we use here—criminal profiling—refers to identifying and describingessential information about a suspect. Psychological profiling refers to a behavioralsketch of an individual who may or may not be a suspected offender. Crime sceneanalysis, or the more technical terms criminal investigative analysis and crime sceneinvestigation, pertains to developing a rough behavioral or psychological sketch of anoffender based on clues identified at the crime scene. According to R. A. Knight,Warren, Reboussin, and Soley (1998), “This technique attempts to derive hypothesesabout the personality of the offender from analysis of a crime scene, victim information, and current knowledge of offenders from previous research” (p. 47).Racial profiling, on the other hand, is defined aspolice-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than thebehavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individualwho has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity. (Ramirez,McDevitt, & Farrell, 2000, p. 53)Racial profiling has become so well-known to ethnic minorities or people of colorduring traffic stops that they have come to label the phenomenon “driving whileblack” or “driving while brown” (abbreviated as DWB) as a play on the legally acceptedterm DWI (driving while intoxicated). Racial profiling is based on the assumption bysome law enforcement officials that ethnic or racial minorities are most often used ascouriers of illegal drugs or other contraband. This unwarranted assumption has led toa disproportionate number of “pretext” stops of members of minority groups. A pretext stop is one in which a driver is pulled over for a mild traffic infraction, such ascrossing the center line or driving a vehicle with a defective taillight. The stop allowsthe officer to conduct a visual search of the vehicle and, under some conditions, orderdrivers and even passengers out of the car.Psychological profiling was used by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS)during World War II in an effort to identify the tendencies and thought processes ofAdolf Hitler (Ault & Reese, 1980). It is very likely, though, that earlier efforts to understand the thinking of kings and military leaders predated the OSS by several hundredyears. David Canter—whom we credited with coining the term investigative psychology—and his colleague Laurence Alison point out that psychological profiling is basically anoffshoot of psychological testing (Canter & Alison, 2000).

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 8484 POLICE AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGYCriminal profiling has gained popularity in law enforcement circles since it wasfirst used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1971 (Pinizzotto & Finkel, 1990).In more recent years, criminal profiling has intrigued the public through such films asSilence of the Lambs and TV series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami,CSI: New York, Crossing Jordan, and Autopsy in the United States and Cracker in theUnited Kingdom. Despite the media attention and popular TV and movie depictionsof highly successful and probing profilers employing sophisticated techniques to identify the offender, reality is far from that picture. If the number of actual success storiesin profiling is compared to the total number of misses or failures, the ratio of hits tomisses might be close to chance. Furthermore, it should be emphasized early in thissection that there are very few full-time employment opportunities for professionalcriminal profilers, even highly experienced ones. Although criminal profiling is afascinating area, students aspiring to become forensic psychologists should keep theircareer options open to the many other forensic areas that are growing and emergingeach year and not narrow their interests to such limited topics as criminal profiling.However, it is also very important to understand the many aspects of profiling, asit is such a pervasive and ultimately important topic in the field of forensic psychology.When the media contact psychologists for comment on a sensational crime, psychologists are typically asked about the “profile.” Moreover, in contrast to the applied aspectsof criminal profiling, the one area that drastically needs attention from forensic psychologists is profiling research. In other words, it is critical that we learn how reliable orvalid the various profiling procedures and methods currently used are and how (or if)they can be improved to allow meaningful application to law enforcement and otherforensic realms. Consequently, in this section, we will spend some time going over thekey concepts in the field, the current state of the “art,” and the available research.Contrary to popular belief, criminal profiling is not and should not be restrictedto serial murders or serial sexual assaults. It has considerable potential value whenapplied successfully to crimes such as arson, burglary, shoplifting, and robbery and towhite-collar crimes such as bank fraud or embezzlement. However, because of the limited research base available, its effectiveness in these areas has yet to be demonstrated.More recently, computer-based models of offender profiles based on extensive statistical data collected on similar offenses have been introduced. With the necessaryempirical research, they may hold considerable promise in advancing the accuracy ofcriminal profiles. But, so far, there are very little research data on the utility, reliability,and validity of computer-based profiling. This point leads us to the general topic ofpredictions of human behavior.Dynamic and Static Risk Factors in PredictionAn important issue in the prediction and profiling of human behavior is the distinction between dynamic risk factors and static risk factors (Andrews & Bonta, 1998;Andrews, Bonta, & Hoge, 1990). Dynamic risk factors are those that change over timeand situation. For example, our attitudes, values, and beliefs have considerable potential for change, in contrast to static risk factors, such as our gender, birth order, ethnicbackground, and biological parents. In short, dynamic factors can change, whereasstatic factors cannot.

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 85Investigative Psychology 85IN FOCUS 3.1The FBI Academy Behavioral Science UnitThe FBI Behavioral Science Unit is one ofthe instructional components of the FBI’sTraining Division at Quantico, Virginia. Itsmission is to develop and provide programsof training, research, and consultation in thebehavioral and social sciences for the FBIand law enforcement community that willimprove or enhance their administration,operational effectiveness, and understandingof crime. This work includes conductinghigh-impact research and presenting a variety of cutting-edge courses on topics such asapplied criminal psychology, clinical forensic psychology, crime analysis, death investigation, interpersonal violence, researchmethodology, stress management in lawenforcement, and violence in America.The Behavioral Science Unit conductsspecialized and applied training in the abovedisciplines as they pertain to law enforcement for new agents, FBI services and symposia, the FBI National Academy Program,international police officers, field policeschools, and criminal justice–related organizations and conferences.The Behavioral Science Unit also coordinates with and supports other FBI units, suchas the National Center for the Analysis ofViolent Crime (NCAVC) and the CriticalIncident Response Group (CIRG), which provides operational assistance to the FBI fieldoffices and law enforcement agencies. TheBehavioral Science Unit does not presentlyrecruit from outside the FBI.Source: Behavioral Science Unit, FBI Academy. Available: www.fbi.gov.Dynamic factors can be subdivided into stable and acute (Hanson & Harris,2000). Stable dynamic factors, although they are changeable, usually change slowlyand may take months or even years to change. Acute dynamic factors, on the otherhand, change rapidly (in days, hours, or even minutes) and include such things asmood swings, emotional arousal, and alcohol or other drug-induced effects. Hansonand Harris (2000) found that acute dynamic factors, such as anger and subjective distress, were better predictors of the tendency of sex offenders to reoffend than were themore stable dynamic factors, such as the sex offender’s attitudes about women.This is important to profiling because serial offenders, whether serial rapists, burglars, arsonists, killers, or pedophiles, often change their modus operandi (MO) as theybecome more proficient at their crime—or, as noted by Turvey (2002), it may changedue to an offender’s deteriorating mental state or the increased use of drugs or alcohol.The MO—the actions and procedures an offender uses to commit a crimesuccessfully—can be considered a stable dynamic factor. It is a behavioral pattern thatthe offender learns as he or she gains experience in committing the offense. Burglarsare continually changing their procedures and techniques to better accomplish theirgoals, and serial killers often become more daring and risky in their selection of victims. Because the offender generally changes the MO until he or she learns whichmethod is most effective, investigators may make a serious error if they place too muchsignificance on the MO when linking crimes. Turvey (2002) also points out that someoffenders improve their MO through educational and technical materials.

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 8686 POLICE AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY“Professional journals, college courses, textbooks, and other educationally oriented media available at a public library, or now via the Internet, can provide offenders with knowledge that is useful toward refining their particular MO” (Turvey, 2002,p. 232). Turvey further illustrates his point by asserting that “arsonists may read Kirk’sFire Investigation (DeHaan, 1997); rapists may read Practical Aspects of RapeInvestigation (Burgess & Hazelwood, 1995); murderers may read Practical HomicideInvestigation (Geberth, 1996); and bank robbers may subscribe to security magazines”(p. 232). In addition, many offenders read newspaper, magazine, and televisionaccounts of their crimes, which sometimes provide clues that the police have identified concerning the MO. Such accounts may prompt the offender to alter his or hermethods of operations. In some instances, the offender may perfect the MO by engaging in a career or profession that enhances the methods used, such as joining a volunteer fire department or even becoming a fire investigator.A similar but distinct feature is the signature. The signature is thought to berelated to the unique cognitive processes of the offender and, because it is relativelyconsistent in its characteristics, may be more useful in the profiling process. In otherwords, the signature probably has greater stability than the MO, although both are stable, dynamic factors.The signature is a symbolic communication by the offender that goes beyondwhat is necessary to commit the crime. For example, some burglars tailor their styles(or their signature) to convey messages to victims and investigators, hoping to inducesome strong emotional reactions from the victims, such as fear or anger. The burglarmay leave a frightening or threatening note or “violate” some personal item, such asintimate clothing, a photograph, or a diary. Consequently, the emotional reactions ofburglarized victims often run the gamut from anger and depression to fear and anxiety (Brown & Harris, 1989).Related to the signature is the issue of psychopathology. Experienced profilershave argued for many years that profiling serial violent offenders is most successfulwhen the offender exhibits some form of psychopathology at the scene of the crime,such as sadistic torture, evisceration, postmortem slashings and cuttings, and othermutilations (Pinizzotto, 1984). This is based on the theory that when a person is mentally disordered, he or she demonstrates greater consistency in behavior from situationto situation. However, whether persons with mental disorders are more consistent intheir behavioral patterns than stable individuals remains very much open to debate,and systematic empirical research on the topic is lacking.Additional Crime Scene ConceptsDuring the 1980s, the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) (see In Focus Box 3.1)interviewed incarcerated sexual murderers in an effort to identify some commonbehavioral characteristics and motives of serial killers (Ressler, Burgess, & Douglas,1988; Ressler, Burgess, Hartman, Douglas, & McCormick, 1986). In the late 1980s, further study focused on the behavioral and motivational features of serial rapists(Hazelwood & Burgess, 1987, 1995). This resulted in the development of a typologythat classifies crime scenes as organized, disorganized, or mixed. An organized crime

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 87Investigative Psychology 87scene suggests planning and premeditation on the part of the offender. The crimereveals signs that the offender maintained control of himself or herself and the victim(s) and took considerable cautions to elude apprehension. In addition, it is alsoapparent that the victim or victims were selected rather than being randomly attacked.A disorganized crime scene, on the other hand, suggests that the offender committedthe crime without premeditation or planning. Essentially, the crime scene lookschaotic, indicating the offender acted on impulse, rage, or some other intense emotional state. High emotions tend to “disorganize” a person’s thought processes andbehavior. Think of what happens when a person becomes uncontrollably angry. Often,the disorganized offender obtains his or her victim or victims by chance. The victim issimply at the wrong place at the wrong time. The mixed crime scene has both organized and disorganized aspects. For example, a crime may have begun as a carefullyplanned one but quickly deteriorated into a disorganized crime when things failed togo as originally planned and unanticipated strong emotions set in.This manner of looking at a crime scene is rarely as neat as portrayed here, however, and some recent research (Kocsis, Cooksey, & Irwin, 2002) suggests that theorganized-disorganized classification scheme may have very limited usefulness. It isprobably more realistic to assume that crime scenes exist somewhere along a continuum, with the organized label at one pole and the disorganized label at the other.Otherwise, we would be trying to fit crime scene analysis into an unrealistic classification system or typology. In contemporary psychology, the term typology refers to aparticular system for classifying personality or other behavioral patterns. Usually, thetypology is used to classify a wide assortment of behaviors into a more manageable setof brief descriptions. However, placing individuals into behavioral categories is basedon the fundamental assumption that behavior is consistent across time and place.Crime scene typologies are constructed on the premise that human behavior (e.g., ofthe offender) is largely the same from situation to situation. The concept of typologieswill be discussed again in Chapters 8 and 9 when criminal violence and sexual assaultsare covered.Another concept sometimes encountered in crime scene analysis is undoing.Undoing is a behavioral pattern found at the scene in which the offender tried to psychologically “undo” the crime. For example, a distraught or emotionally upsetoffender, who kills the victim, may try to undo his or her actions by placing the bodyin bed, gently placing the head on a pillow, and neatly covering the body with blankets.Or he or she may place the victim upright in a chair, trying desperately to return thevictim to a natural-looking state.Trophy taking is another behavioral pattern sometimes encountered in crimescene analysis. Although it is more common in violent crime, it may also occur in burglary. A crime scene trophy is a meaningful souvenir taken by the offender to remember the incident, to psychologically control the victim, or both. It could be anything,from a piece of clothing to a photograph, a piece of jewelry, or—in the case of a murdered victim—a body part. Trophy taking also may be part of a signature of theoffender. One of the more infamous trophy takers was the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer,who collected body parts in glass jars filled with formaldehyde as well as photographsdepicting victims at various stages of their deaths.

03-Bartol-45509.qxd2/27/20083:03 PMPage 8888 POLICE AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGYStaging is another behavioral pattern sometimes found at a suspected suicide,accidental death, or crime scene. Staging

Profiling: The Psychological Sketch . In some instances, the profile summarizes the psychological features of persons who may commit a crime, such as identifying potential terrorists who plan to hijack or blow up a plane. In the United State